"Real proud, like a dad kind of," said Freeze, who was an assistant at Ole Miss from 2005 to 2007. "I've got three beautiful daughters but these two are kind of like my sons."

It's hard not to be happy when they're both playing in the Super Bowl, but at this same time last year, Baltimore Ravens offensive tackle Michael Oher was still stinging from a shell-shocking loss to the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship game. To compound matters, his football 'dad' had inherited a daunting task at his alma mater.

"When we were at Briarcrest (Christian) together, I mean, we shouldn't of won one game. I mean, it was strictly on him coaching," said Oher, the subject of the best-selling novel and Academy Award-nominated full-length feature film "The Blind Side." "We're going to have a top 10 recruiting class and I expect him to win the SEC in the next couple years."

Willis, too, suffered a crushing defeat in the conference championship game but a year later, the boys are in the Super Bowl and dad is flying high at the alma mater and they're still no stranger to one another.

"My only words of wisdom to them were, 'Men, enjoy the moment,'" said Freeze. "Both of you are going to prepare extremely well and you've worked your whole life to get to this point so enjoy it."

"I hope Patrick wins the MVP and Michael wins the championship," Freeze added with a smile.